Top Algorithms and Methods Used by Data Scientists

Latest KDnuggets Poll askedHere are the results, based on 844 voters.The top 10 algorithms (and methods) and their share of voters are:See full table of all algorithms and methods at the end of the post.

(Note: The goal of the poll was to find the top tools used by Data Scientists, but the word “tools” is ambiguous, so for simplicity I originally called this table top 10 “algorithms”.

Comparing with 2011 Poll Algorithms for data analysis / data mining we note that the top methods are still Regression, Clustering, Decision Trees/Rules, and Visualization.

The biggest relative increases, measured by (pct2016 /pct2011 – 1) are forMost popular among new options added in 2016 areThe biggest declines are forThe following table shows usage of different algorithms types: Supervised, Unsupervised, Meta, and other by Employment type.

We excluded NA (4.5%) and Other (3%) employment types.We note that almostGovernment and Industry Data Scientists usedthan students or academic researchers,andNext, we analyzed the usage of top 10 algorithms + Deep Learning by employment type.To make the differences easier to see, we compute the algorithm bias for a particular employment type relative to average algorithm usage as – 1.

Latest KDnuggets poll identifies the list of top algorithms actually used by Data Scientists, finds surprises including the most academic and most industry-oriented algorithms. @Ronald_vanLoon: Top Algorithms and Methods Used by Data Scientists | #DataScience #DataScientist #RT

Here are the results, based on 844 voters.

The top 10 algorithms (and methods) and their share of voters are:

See full table of all algorithms and methods at the end of the post.

(Note: The goal of the poll was to find the top tools used by Data Scientists, but the word “tools” is ambiguous, so for simplicity I originally called this table top 10 “algorithms”. Of course, as many of you justifiably pointed out, Statistics or Visualization ( and several other options) are not algorithms, but can be better described as methods or approaches. I stand corrected and renamed this post to “Top 10 algorithms and methods” .)

The average respondent used 8.1 algorithms/methods, a big increase vs a similar poll in 2011.

The following table shows usage of different algorithms types: Supervised, Unsupervised, Meta, and other by Employment type. We excluded NA (4.5%) and Other (3%) employment types.